Chapter 235: Fooled Again
Chapter 235: Fooled Again
Zhou Chengxin glared at Zhou Chenglei and huffed, "I'll drive the boat!"
Why was driving the boat easier than sorting fish?
Let Zhou Chenglei sort the fish!
He turned and walked away to drive the boat.
Zhou Chenglei's lips curled slightly, then his expressionless face spoke, "Sure!"
He walked over, picked up the water bottle, unscrewed the cap, and handed it to Jiang Xia, "Have some water first."
She hadn't had a sip of water in over two hours.
Zhou Chengxin, upon seeing this, realized he had been driving the boat all morning without a drink, and said, "Ah Lei, pass me my water bottle."
Zhou Chenglei immediately picked up his brother's water bottle and tossed it over, "Catch."
Zhou Chengxin was caught off guard, and the water bottle hit his body before he caught it.
Zhou Chengxin: "..."
A true younger brother!
He unscrewed the cap of the water bottle for his wife and threw it directly at him!
As expected, after getting married, he forgot about his brother!
Jiang Xia took the water bottle, drinking water while glancing at the neighboring fishing boat.
On the boat next to them, Uncle Dong and his son were pulling up the fishing net together.
Since they usually didn't need much effort to pull up the net, they didn't exert much force this time either.
As a result, the net didn't budge!
The father and son exchanged glances and increased their strength a little.
Still, the net didn't move!
Their hearts began to race, and they started to pull harder, testing bit by bit!
The harder they pulled, the faster their hearts beat! Finally, the father and son used all their might to pull up a large bundle of fish.
Seeing their struggle, Jiang Xia said, "Looks like Uncle Dong's catch is pretty good."
As she spoke, she handed the water bottle to Zhou Chenglei.
Zhou Chenglei took it and started drinking.
Fish spilled out of the net, covering the deck with fish and shrimp, mostly silver pomfret and white shrimp, moving Uncle Dong to the verge of tears!
He couldn't remember when he had last caught so many fish.
Shrimp always fetched a higher price than ordinary fish, and silver pomfret was also valuable. This catch would easily sell for over a hundred.
Uncle Dong beamed, "Your Uncle Yongfu was right, Ah Lei's wife is a real wealth-bringer!"
Whoever she associates with prospers!
Zhou Guodong, seeing the pile of fish, was also amazed, "Should we continue trawling with Ah Lei's boat?"
"I'll ask them if it's convenient. We can't always follow others."
One must have boundaries as a person.
So Uncle Dong shouted to Zhou Chenglei, "Ah Lei, are you going to feed the fish?"
Zhou Chenglei, understanding Uncle Dong's unspoken words, replied, "We'll do one more trawl before feeding."
Uncle Dong, hearing this, continued, "Then my boat will follow yours for one more trawl. Is that okay?"
Zhou Chenglei responded, "No problem, let's do it together!"
Uncle Dong happily drove his boat, keeping a moderate distance alongside Zhou Chenglei's fishing vessel.
Zhou Chenglei went to set the fishing net.
Jiang Xia took out her gloves, preparing to wear them for sorting the fish.
Zhou Chenglei, noticing this, stopped her, "Let's eat first, then sort the fish after."
Once Jiang Xia started sorting the fish, she wouldn't eat until she finished.
It was almost twelve o'clock, and by the time they finished sorting, it would be past one.
Jiang Xia thought for a moment and decided it was fine to eat first. She took out her lunch box and asked Zhou Chengxin, "Big brother, do you want to eat?"
Zhou Chenglei: "The net's just been set. Big brother, you can drive the boat. It's only half-past eleven. Big brother usually eats at twelve. I'll eat quickly and then drive the boat so big brother can eat."
Zhou Chengxin: "..."
Damn!
He had fallen for Zhou Chenglei's trick again!
A good little brother!
So Zhou Chenglei pulled Jiang Xia to sit down and eat.
Today's meal included chives and eggs, and fish jerky. Although Jiang Xia wasn't picky, Zhou Chenglei had noticed her fondness for chives and eggs, so he gave her all the chives and eggs from his lunch box, saying, "I don't like this."
Jiang Xia glanced at him, knowing he wasn't being truthful, but she didn't expose him. She returned half of the chives and eggs to him and also gave him half of the fish jerky from her bowl.
Jiang Xia didn't particularly like fish jerky, so she decided to buy some fermented black beans and make fermented black bean fish. She would store these fish jerky in a jar, and when they were out at sea or too busy to cook, they could take some out to eat—fragrant and perfect with rice!
Zhou Chengxin drove the boat alone, watching the couple eat and share their food.
Zhou Chenglei would also help Jiang Xia tidy up the hair that was occasionally blown by the sea breeze.
The couple was affectionate, as if no one else existed!
Zhou Chengxin felt wronged.
How did his father endure going out to sea with them before?
Zhou Chengxin felt that this couple completely ignored him!
With his father around, Zhou Chengxin didn't feel this way, but now with just the couple, the feeling was very obvious!
He felt like a straw man who could only drive the boat. The couple ate quickly, and after finishing, Zhou Chenglei went to drive the boat, leaving Zhou Chengxin to eat.
Jiang Xia also went to sort the fish.
As the fish and shrimp on the deck were almost sorted, it was time to retrieve the net.
This catch was extremely difficult for the two brothers to pull!
Jiang Xia even came forward to help!
Opening the net, they saw that almost all of them were crocodile fish.
There were probably over a hundred, each weighing around ten pounds, totaling over a thousand pounds.
Crocodile fish is famous for its fish glue, known as crocodile glue.
Crocodile fish glue ranks second among the four major fish glues, only surpassed by the glue of yellowfin tuna.
It is also a fish glue that is relatively friendly to postpartum women.
Seeing the deck full of crocodile fish, Zhou Chenglei decided not to sell them. Instead, he would give the money to his older brother later.
Although he and Jiang Xia didn't plan to have a child so soon, this fish was genuinely rare, and selling it now didn't guarantee they could catch it again in the future.
Moreover, the longer this fish glue is stored, the better its efficacy becomes.
The neighboring Uncle Dong's boat also had a full net, with a catch of around three to four hundred pounds. However, their net mostly contained silver pomfret and mackerel, with only a few crocodile fish.
Their catch was worth around two to three hundred yuan.
Zhou Chenglei drove the boat closer to their fishing boat and shouted, "Uncle Dong, we're going to feed the fish."
Uncle Dong was very understanding and laughed, "Okay, go ahead! Don't worry about us, we're also preparing to return."
Their fishing boat was smaller than Zhou Chenglei's and couldn't hold as many fish, so they planned to pull one more net before heading back.
It was a good opportunity to pull the net while driving the boat back.
Zhou Chengxin saw the fish on Uncle Dong's boat and smiled, "Uncle Dong, today's catch looks good!"
Uncle Dong laughed, "We're lucky to have you around! Sister-in-law, do you want these silver pomfret fish dried? If so, I'll take them home, dry them, and send them to you."
Jiang Xia smiled, "Yes, we'll take them. Just like I taught Aunt Dong, cut them into small segments without breaking them, and hang them to dry."
"Okay, I understand. I'll make sure they're dried properly! Let's go!"
Then, the two fishing boats went their separate ways.
Zhou Chenglei drove the boat to Pearl Island, where the fish cage was located, and stopped.
The brothers chopped up the worthless and unappetizing small fish and shrimp, put them in a bag, and then went into the water.
They poured the fish from the bag into the fish cage.
A group of fish in the cage swam eagerly to feed.
Not only that, but because they almost fed the fish daily, the number of shrimp and crabs around the cage had increased.
They came to scavenge for food.
Zhou Chenglei even spotted two small green dragons and several large green crabs.
The brothers quickly went to catch them!
After feeding the fish, they checked the pearl oysters and found that the pearl net was covered in mud and seaweed. They removed it all and took it back to the boat to clean.
Jiang Xia had said that if the pearl net got dirty, it needed to be cleaned to avoid affecting the growth of the pearl oysters.
The fish cage also needed cleaning if it got too dirty, but it was still in good condition and not too dirty.
The three of them worked hard to scrub the pearl net clean.
After finishing, they put the pearl oysters back into the compartments, and the brothers returned to the sea, hanging them all up.
Jiang Xia was sorting fish on the boat when she suddenly looked up and saw many seabirds flying on the beach of Pearl Island, seemingly fighting over food.
There were also numerous seabirds in the sky flying in that direction.
Zhou Chenglei and Zhou Chengxin happened to swim up from the seabed.
Jiang Xia hurriedly said, "Look at the island over there!"
(End of Chapter)
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